All through Pennsylvania's 101-day budget impasse, Gov. Rendell spoke of pain.
A recession-weary state had to tighten its belt. Revenues had to rise -- income tax, sales tax, new taxes on whole industries. "We can't get this budget resolved," Rendell said, "without everyone feeling some pain."
But when the budget was finally signed Oct. 9, one industry came away pain-free.
The natural-gas industry's leaders and lobbyists beat back Rendell's proposal to tax gas as it is pulled to the surface from the rich black-rock reservoir known as the Marcellus Shale.
So, as drilling rigs are sprouting in the state's northern tier and southwestern corner, the gas those rigs are extracting still isn't taxed. That makes Pennsylvania unique among the 15 states that produce the most natural gas.
What's more, the industry persuaded Harrisburg to lease more public land to gas drillers -- even as the state's budget for environmental protection was being sharply cut.
What happened to Rendell's gas-tax proposal?
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